How to make this curved jig

[Michael Mayo]

Hello all been awhile since I last posted as life has a way of always getting in the way of fun stuff. In any event I recently built a vacuum press to make pistol holsters out of plastic sheet material called Kydex. One of the recommended tips for making these is to form them over a curved jig of some sort. This is so the holster for the gun will somewhat wrap around the wearers body comfortably. So I found a guy who makes a jig that he uses to form his holsters and I would like to make one for myself seeing as how I have all of the tools and materials to do that I can save myself the cost of buying the jig. My problem is that I am not really sure how to go about machining the curvature onto the wood piece? So hoefully someone can open my eyes a bit to some ideas to machine this curvature into a block of wood. I know someone here will have a seriously good idea for it but I for whatever reason cannot picture how to do it. I have routers, a lathe, drill press, tablesaw etc. The only thing that pops into my head is to turn a big piece of wood on the lathe then take it to the bandsaw and cut it in half. The other idea I had but cannot think of a way of doing it would be to use the router on some type of a jig that will move the router on the radius that I am looking for but that seems a bit complicated? The jig measures 1.5" tall x 8" wide x 10" long. Thanks again for any input ideas!

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[Jim Becker]

Mark the profile on the end of the piece and do stopped passes on a router table to hog away most of the excess material. Make a thin template of the same radius and then use that to judge your progress in finalizing the curved profile with a sander. Clean up the shoulder with a fine crosscut saw and sharp chisels. I suspect for your application that the curve doesn't have to be "perfect" and apologize if I'm wrong about that.

[Dan Blackshear]

Look up finger board radiusing jig and you should find a dozen or so different methods. Pick the one that works for you.

[david kramer]

Does it have to be one solid piece? Why not make a template with the cross section then route a bunch of 3/4" plywood pieces with the same cross section. Glue them all together and sand it true.

[Peter Quinn]

I suggest you Google "guitar fretboard radius jig" and check out the image links that follow. Very same concept. Not sure you will be saving any money versus the time required to make the jig, though you can make your own prefered radius that way.

another option would be to simply make a ribbed form like a vacuum bending form, skin that with a few layers of 1/8" bendable plywood or kerf board, should give you the same functionality, you could create a curve and taper if you wanted to really follow the leg....mine get skinnier as they go down!

[Sam Murdoch]

I would make some (2 maybe 3) radius cross pieces for a base onto which I would vacuum press some veneers or thin ply to create a stable curved top. The cross pieces can start out quite tall (2 or 3 inches) and be long enough to screw or clamp the ends as you laminate the plywood top. The stop on the end can just be added after you make the curved section.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Using a compass large enough to draw the radius onto a piece of plywood for a pattern, cut and sand smooth. Now use that with a router and collar or a router and pattern bit to make multiple identical pieces of say 3/4" stock that can be fastened or glued together to make the final form.

[Michael Mayo]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like the idea of cutting several pieces out of thinner material then gluing them together (laminating) is the go to solution.